The Replacement by: Brenna Yovanoff

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate’s baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

Why I read this book:

This had been on my TBR ever since I saw the creepy cover image with the knives hanging over the carriage.

Review/Reaction:

Reading this book had the perfect amount of creepy that you want to feel around Halloween. Small town, things wrong, lots of rain, fall. So yes, plenty of creepy moments, but not in a huge blood and gore kind of way.

Also really enjoyed the musician aspects of it all too. The fairies were weird and creepy and while I didn’t quite understand them I definitely liked them as characters in the book. Not like in the sense that they were good, but like in the sense that they were interesting but twisted.

Our MC. I’m on the fence with him. He seams more reactionary then actionary. Unable to fully get a grip on himself as a person. And in a way this story is about him discovering who he is, it also just felt hard watching him flounder a lot when he could have just found his tongue and said something. But the music portion of him was cool. Also his relationship with his sister really saved him for me too.

Final Thoughts:

I liked this book. It had great atmosphere and it finished up in one book. Something I find lacking in a lot of YA lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good series. But sometimes it’s nice to read just one book and feel done and complete. This book gives that feeling.